An Unexpected Benefit of Having a Dog
If you want to help prevent allergies in your children, get a dog or a cat.
That's the surprising news from two new studies that were conducted independently of one another. An international study managed by researchers at the University of Virginia and the Central Hospital of Norrbotten in Lulea-Boden in Sweden concluded that children whose families had always owned cats or dogs actually developed fewer pet allergies than new pet owners or those who had only been exposed earlier in life.
It's long been assumed that the opposite was true. If kids avoided pets, they wouldn't develop allergies to them. But this latest study has proven that idea to be a fallacy. HealthDayNews reports that the four-year study of 2,454 children in northern Sweden concluded that while cat allergies are the most common airborne childhood allergy, having a cat didn't increase the risk of developing an allergy in 7- to 11-year-old kids and could help prevent allergies.
Study leader Eva Rönmark did say that the biggest risk factor for developing sensitization to a pet allergy is genetic. If this happens, it's best not to have pets in the home. But for others, consistently high exposure to animal allergens early in life is beneficial, protecting both boys and girls from developing allergies.
Among children who were allergic to cats, 80 percent had never kept a cat at home, note HealthDayNews. "Parents need to be aware also, that just because you don't have a pet, your child won't develop sensitization," Rönmark explained. "Cat [and other] allergens can also be found where there are no cats--for example, in schools, where they can be transferred by clothes." The study findings were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The Swedish study results were supported by a different research project that evaluated the effect of pet exposure on asthma risk in 8,216 children ages 5 to 7 who lived in rural regions of Bavaria. The team from the Institute for Social Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Munchen, Germany concluded that being exposed to a pet had no bearing on the risk of developing allergies. In addition, children who were continually exposed to cats and had cats that roamed their bedroom were 67 percent less likely than other kids to develop allergic asthma and 45 percent less likely to develop hay fever. In other words, exposure to cats actually protected the children from developing allergic asthma.
The research findings were published in the journal Allergy.
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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Mar. 10, 2005